


pressure point

by anthonydarling



Category: The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Arc Reactor Issues, Cuddling & Snuggling, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Originally Posted on Tumblr, Polyamory, Sickfic, Threesome - F/M/M, his spouses don't notice and then they do, tony frets, vague mentions of - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-10
Updated: 2020-08-10
Packaged: 2021-03-06 06:13:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,900
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25818646
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/anthonydarling/pseuds/anthonydarling
Summary: “We’re okay. It’s just a cold,” Rhodey said. “Not even the worst ones we’ve had.”“You don’t know that yet,” Tony said darkly. He put his hands on his hips, thinking, then: “J, how are their fevers?”Pepper breathed out through her nose in that way she did when she was annoyed and only sort of trying not to show it.
Relationships: James "Rhodey" Rhodes/Tony Stark, Pepper Potts/James "Rhodey" Rhodes, Pepper Potts/James "Rhodey" Rhodes/Tony Stark, Pepper Potts/Tony Stark
Comments: 6
Kudos: 91





	pressure point

“Pep-”

“I’m fine.”

_“Pepper,”_ Tony said. 

_“Tony,”_ she replied, matching his tone without looking away from her tablet. “I need to get this done.”

“I can do it for you,” he said. She raised an eyebrow. “Seriously. I will. You need to rest.”

“I’m resting. I’m on the couch. I have chicken noodle soup on the table beside me and DayQuil running through my system.” She glanced up at him for a moment. “And I need to finish this.”

“Let her work, Tones,” Rhodey said from the other side of the couch. He was folding laundry with a fraction of his usual efficiency, and acting like he wasn’t having any problems at all. He had a high fever, he was going to have problems, but he shooed Tony away whenever he tried to help. 

He dropped the washcloth he was folding, bent down to pick it up, and swayed when he sat back up. His eyes unfocused for a moment, and he shook his head slightly, and then kept working. Tony sort of wanted to scream.

He looked back and forth at them, and he knew he looked nervous and clingy, but he couldn’t seem to make himself stop. “But she’s sick. _You’re_ sick.”

“We’re okay. It’s just a cold,” Rhodey said. “Not even the worst ones we’ve had.”

“You don’t know that yet,” Tony said darkly. He put his hands on his hips, thinking, then: “J, how are their fevers?”

Pepper breathed out through her nose in that way she did when she was annoyed and only sort of trying not to show it.

“Ms. Potts has a low-grade fever of a hundred point one. Mr. Rhodes has a fever of a hundred and two.” 

“I feel fine,” Rhodey said. His hands were shaking, his grip strength was weak. Why was he still working? Why was Pepper still working? They were sick, they needed to rest to get better and they weren’t going to get better if they kept trying to keep busy. They were going to get worse, Pepper had already been sick for three days and Rhodey for two, if they didn’t rest-

“There,” Rhodey said to himself. Oh, good, he’d finished doing the laundry, maybe he would lay down and go to sleep for a bit. Tony stepped forward and picked up the blankets that he’d folded on his first load, ready to put them to use. Rhodey picked up a stack of pants, shifted to the edge of his seat, and eyed Tony warily.

“No,” Tony said. Were his hands tingling? Why were his hands tingling?

“Tony,” Rhodey sighed. Pepper made a vaguely annoyed and agreeing noise.

“You’re sick,” he said again. “I can put those away.”

“I can’t just _sit_ here.”

“Why not?”

“Do you want help?” Pepper asked, looking over to him. Rhodey opened his mouth to reply, looking like he was going to say yes, and-

“Just let me take care of you! Why are you so stubborn?” Tony burst out. His spouses both paused and looked at him, startled. “God! And you call me a workaholic, _really._ Un-fucking-believable.” He dropped the blankets between them with a huff, then stepped back and pointed at Rhodey, who was looking at him with a mixture of alarm and amusement, and he did not appreciate it. He was not in the mood to be laughed at, not for this. “You! You have a fever of a hundred and two. You’re acting like you’re not graying out every time you get up to get the laundry or do the dishes, and I know that you are because the last time you tried to walk through it I saw you almost collide with the kitchen counter. So _sit down_ and _stay there._ I can do the dishes, I can put the laundry away. Let me do that.” His voice cracked.

“...yeah, okay,” Rhodey said, his amusement gone and concern evident in his expression. He sat back. “Read you loud and clear.”

Tony didn’t acknowledge his response. He turned to Pepper. She had turned the tablet off and was watching him with her head cocked to the side and eyebrows knitted together. “And _you_ are going to work yourself into an early grave. You got sick in the first place because you’ve been working non-stop for three weeks,” he waved a hand, “thank you for that, you are a brilliant CEO and I’m so glad that you’re running SI, but you aren’t going to get better unless you take a break and rest. I know that neither of you like inactivity. I get that, I do, you’re both brilliant and I love you very much and I want you to get better.” He took a step back and crossed his arms tightly. He took a deep breath. “Please.”

“Oh, honey,” Pepper murmured.

“Tones,” Rhodey said softly, like he was talking to a spooked animal, which made Tony want to snap at him but he didn’t because he was sick, his face was ashy with exhaustion and nausea, probably, and should Tony have yelled at him? Well, he hadn’t yelled, he wouldn’t do that, but he had been speaking pretty forcefully and what if he was going to stress them both out and they’d get even more sick, he was going to make it worse and they would take longer to get better and what if-

“Hey. Hey, nope, don’t check out on us now,” Rhodey said firmly. Tony snapped back to reality, where there wasn’t just static and constant, unending regret. His chest felt tighter than usual. He was breathing fast. He pressed the flat of his palm against the arc reactor for a moment, like the pressure was going to ease the tightness in his chest instead of making it worse. “Tony.” He pulled a blanket off of the stack and spread it over his lap, and Pepper did the same, still watching him with soft eyes. “Sit.” 

He blinked.

“Tony,” Pepper murmured. “Sit. Just for a second.”

Tony sat. Rhodey turned to him and took his hands in his too-warm ones. Pepper pressed her side against his back and leaned her head on the back of his shoulder. “Listen to me. I’m gonna fix this whole issue, okay? You ready?”

“Sorry,” Tony said, and he shook his head. 

“We’re not upset with you,” Pepper said. “We needed to hear that, and we’re going to listen,” Tony relaxed a little, relieved, “but you need to listen to _us_ for a moment, too.”

“...okay,” he said.

Rhodey’s expression was serious, and concerned, and Tony saw understanding there, too. “Hey.” He squeezed his hands. “Out of the three of us, you have the worst immune system.” Pepper nodded against his back. “It’s bad when you get sick. You don’t bounce back easily, you always end up bedridden, and you have to be hospitalized more often than not.” He smiled wearily. “But neither I nor Pepper have reduced lung capacity like you do. Neither of us have a history of getting pneumonia or bronchitis from a cold, or even the flu. Even if it’s bad, we don’t get as sick as you do and we _will_ get better. Okay?”

“You don’t get as sick as I do,” Tony repeated, slowly, because he hadn’t thought of that at all. Of course they didn’t. They were healthy, they could- they could breathe when they got sick. Tony couldn’t. He’d forgotten that that wasn’t normal.

Rhodey nodded. Pepper hummed in agreement and rubbed her face against his shoulder like a cat.

“We understand why you’re scared, and it’s a good reason to be,” she said, “but we’re gonna be okay.”

“I’m not scared,” he objected, more for show than anything. It was weak. Rhodey rolled his eyes. It made him feel a little better.

“You are.” Her tone was blunt. “It makes sense. We don’t fault you for it, and we understand why you’re mother-henning us-”

“I’m not-”

“You are. It’s okay, but you can’t get yourself so worked up about this, honey.” She turned to press her chest against his back, and she circled her arms around his waist. Her forehead pressed against the back of his neck, she was warmer than she had been before this, and he made himself take a deep breath. She was fine. He had to trust her on that. “It’s not healthy. You’re not going to make us more sick if you sit down and tell us that you’re really worried. I’m sorry that I didn’t notice you were so upset.”

“I'm sorry too. Tell us before it gets to this point and you give yourself a minor heart attack,” Rhodey said, and his warm tone didn’t match his teasing words. He was still holding his hands. Tony didn’t consider pulling away. “Okay?”

Tony ducked his head. “Yeah, okay,” he said. 

“And you’re right.” Pepper’s voice was muffled against his back. She sounded tired. “I shouldn’t be working, it’s just gonna stress me out more. I have people who can do my job for a couple of days- you might have to do some paperwork.”

“Done,” Tony said. He felt her smile. 

“I get restless,” Rhodey said, “but you’re right, I almost passed out last time I got up.”

“Don’t _do_ that,” Tony said, a little helplessly. “I can find something easy for you to do, or you can tell me to get you a- a puzzle or a Rubik’s cube or something.”

“A Rubik’s cube,” Rhodey repeated, a smile growing on his stupidly cute face. “Because I’m how old, exactly?”

“Oh, shut up, I’ll get a couple of the six-by-six ones and race you.” Rhodey’s eyes brightened with interest. Nerd. 

“Could he beat you?” Pepper asked, sounding genuinely curious. Tony paused, considering.

“Say no,” Rhodey said.

“No,” he repeated obediently. She snorted. Rhodey tilted his chin up in challenge. Tony didn’t really know why everyone thought _he_ was the cocky bastard when Rhodey was _right there._

Tony turned away from Rhodey and he slumped against the back of the couch, still smiling, still cocky, but tired. Pepper leaned back to let Tony move, and then when he was also sitting with his back to the couch, draped herself over his lap. Like a cat. Her head rested on Rhodey’s thigh, and he threaded his fingers through her hair.

“Got any instructions for me, Mr. Stark?” She asked in a very, very poor imitation of her usual businesslike tone. Her face was fever-flushed. Tony bumped his shoulder into Rhodey’s with a hum.

“Well, Ms. Potts, I think you should take some time off,” he said, nailing his own usual _I’m the boss_ tone, thank you very much. “I have other people who can do your job, you know.”

“‘re you replacing me, Mr. Stark?” She slurred. He huffed and rubbed at her back. He was going to get them both a cold compress, and some headache medication, because he recognized the tightness around Rhodey’s eyes and the way that Pepper pressed her temple against his thigh. He pressed his palm to the nape of her neck for a moment to test her fever- a little too warm for comfort in his opinion, and she relaxed a little bit more. Rhodey put his arm around Tony’s shoulders and leaned against him.

He was going to move. In a little bit. Soon. “Certainly not, Ms. Potts. You’re irreplaceable."

**Author's Note:**

> [Here](https://tonystark-tm.tumblr.com) on tumblr dot com.


End file.
